The Cataclysm
by ElecmanEXE
Summary: It is the year 20XX, 20 years since Wily's last attack. The entire world was enjoying blissful peace...until the announcement came, that changes all life on the world permanently...AA, SF, T, OC, AU, CO. PG R&R Please.
1. Chapter 1

**The Cataclysm **

**Chapter 01: The Beginning **

**By ElecmanEXE **

This is a fic based on my opinion on what happened in the mysterious event known as the "Cataclysm" which took place between the years 20XX and 21XX (Rockman and X timelines). I came up with all of the plot material myself and worked it out for almost a year before starting to write. Originally, this was supposed to be a video game idea of mine but that didn't work well. I never discussed this fic with anyone and so, I have not plagiarized anybody's work. I did not copy any story from others' "Cataclysm"-esque fics. The closest to a Cataclysm fic is BnG's Flash movie series which is very different from my fic.

All original characters that will be appearing in this fic were created by myself and I hold all copyrights to them unless they're cameos of other people's OCs which I had obtained permission to use in this fic (unlikely).

Disclaimer: I don't own Rockman or all related characters/intellectual property except for the OCs which I or their respective creators own. Rockman and all related characters are property to Capcom.

Now on with the fic...

_The year is 20XX. It is a time of peace and prosperity. It is a time when relations between mankind and machines were at their zenith. Robots worked alongside with humans in many places around the world and were considered to be friends by many. Thanks to this relationship, much technological progress has been made in terms of space travel. Thanks to the peace, it was possible to create developments that enabled humans and robots to start constructing colonies both in orbit in space and on the Moon; construction for the Mars colonies are already under way. The people were content with their lives. Unfortunately, all good things come with a hefty price tag. _

_ Many years ago, in the year 200X, two world-renowned researchers of robotics, who were very best friends by the way, were working together on developing robots with artificial minds that can live, sense, move, and think like a human being. The fruit of their efforts brought forth the creation known as DRN-000 Protoman. Regrettably, Protoman left the laboratory in which he was built for reasons unknown and was never seen for many years. _

_ Refusing to be discouraged by this setback, the two doctors, named Dr. Light and Dr. Wily respectively, went back to square one and eventually succeeded in creating eight individual robots who could think and act like human beings. These robots were called Robot Masters. Each of these Robot Masters had individual functions. There was Rock and Roll, a "boy" and a "girl" respectively. Their functions were laboratory assistant and housekeeper respectively. The others, Fireman, Bombman, Gutsman, Cutman, Elecman, and Iceman, worked in the industrial sector in jobs that matched their abilities. For example, Gutsman worked in the construction sector because of his sheer brute strength and because of his knowledge on construction and architectural engineering. _

_ Coming back to the story…One day, Dr. Wily took control over six of the Robot Masters and unleashed them onto the world in his ambition to take over the world. Everywhere they went, there was chaos, destruction, and despair. Out of the two who Wily had left behind, Rock, because of his great sense of justice, volunteered to become a fighting machine to defeat Wily and his brothers, and bring peace to the land. Dr. Light eventually agreed to modify Rock and soon, created Rockman, the fighting robot for peace. _

_ Rockman, armed with his Rockbuster and Weapon Copy System, battled each of his Robot Master brothers and defeated them in combat and soon, vanquished the remainder of Dr. Wily's armies and cut his plans of world domination short. Humiliated and defeated, Wily escaped in his flying saucer vowing that he'll get his revenge. And true to his word, he came back many times to plague Rockman and the rest of planet Earth. He attacked with new and more powerful Robot Masters (up to Mark VIIIs), gargantuan robots of mass destruction, alien robotic entities, dark energy from the remains of a deceased alien entity, and even an apparently superior robot to Rockman. But in the end, Rockman always prevailed and even once put Wily in jail (but only for a short time because Wily escaped). _

_ But the story does not start there. This story takes place a looong time after the "Wily Wars" as the scholars called the period of turmoil. It has been exactly two decades since Wily's last attack upon the world and given his supposed age, the people presumed that he was dead and lived on with their merry lives. _

_ Dr. Thoman Light, now age 97, and his assistant, Rock, were working on a breakthrough technology in robotics. This technology, once successfully created, would upgrade the physical capabilities and artificial intelligence of the robot, surpassing the abilities of Robot Masters, and thus, making them obsolete (and a lesser threat). The research was once stolen and sabotaged by a Robot Master named Bass (Wily's of course), but the stolen data was useless compared to what Dr. Light had worked hard on for the past two decades of peace. _

_ And it was on a spring day, in the middle of this important research, that the fateful broadcast, the announcement that changed the course of history of mankind, was aired all over the world. This is where our story starts…in the year 20XX… _

"Rock, can you get me my hydro-spanner at the other side of the lab please?" Doctor Light asked Rock. Doctor Light was well on his way to reaching his centennial year of life, but unlike a lot of other old people, the doctor was still lively and strong. Many others would be using machines as substitutes of weak limbs, but Doctor Light said that he didn't need any.

"Sure will, Doctor Light!" Rock skipped happily across the laboratory keeping in mind to not step on the new carpet that Roll had just finished cleaning and rolling out.

"ROCK!"

Rock stopped in his tracks. That high pitched yell caused his mechanical backbone to vibrate and disrupted his auditory senses a bit; it's usually the sign of impending doom. He almost never figures out why he's being punished though…Really, it shouldn't matter where Rush disposes of his solid wastes, be it the guest room bed or the buffed up linoleum; they're just compressed balls of excess steel.

_Well…It matters to her,_ he thought. Sighing, he turned around to face Roll's face contorted into what Dr. Light would describe as "Shortage of cleaning supplies."

"Rock! What did I tell you about running across carpets?" Roll asked.

"sigh Don't step on a crack, or you'll fall through and break a Metool's back."

"No, not that! The other one!" She was visibly getting angrier.

"Umm…Always clean the feet before treading on new carpets."

"Right, and are your feet clean?" She looked him straight in the eye.

"I don't know. I haven't left the lab today, so they should be relatively clean enough to tread on carpets" he replied blankly.

"Relatively! RELATIVELY!" To quote Doctor Light: "Fireman burned the curtains again."

Rock sighed as he stood there while Roll paced up and down the floor, carefully walking around the new carpet, going on a tirade about how relative is not the same as absolute. He glanced around to see if anybody could help him but Beat, Tango, and even Rush disappeared behind the machinery. Obviously, his six brothers already made themselves scarce when they heard her yell. _They're probably with Doctor Light._ He shifted his eyes back onto Roll before she noticed the lack of attention he's paying to her. _Being a robot is great _he thought. _I can shut off my external audio sensors while humans can't. Uh-oh…She's pounding her fist into her hand. Better nod. Hmm…Is that a flower hairpin in her hair? Haven't seen her wear that since the 10th anniversary of peace celebration. Today must be special. Uh-oh…I think I might have over-looked a crucial date for her._ Rock quickly scanned his internal calendar to see what he might have missed.

"...Good! I hope you got it this time" she concluded and walked off to clean the waffle iron and serve the doctor his favorite breakfast. Cinnamon waffles covered with maple syrup and a healthy blob of whipped cream on top.

"Rock! Did you find my hydro spanner yet?" Doctor Light yelled from his room.

"Coming Doctor Light!" Rock replied and hurried to fetch the hydro-spanner.

Rock went through the tool chest and found not one, but two hydro-spanners of different sizes. _Hmm…I wonder which one he wanted…_he thought. _I'll just take both._ And he ran back to the workshop where Roll and Doctor Light were. On the way back, his scan of his calendar proved to be inconclusive about any special occasions today. Maybe it's just her.

Just then, Rock heard a loud crash coming from the workshop but no cries of panic or surprise. _Something is wrong…Gutsman usually breaks things and Roll would yell at him but it's too quiet…Something's up!_ Rock dashed over to the source of the crash.

"Doctor Light! Roll! Everyone! What is go…ing...on in…" he paused.

Rock stood in disbelief and did not notice that the two hydro spanners dropped to the floor with a loud _CLANG!_ Roll, Doctor Light, and his six brothers, in an obvious state of shock, didn't notice either…because…on the television screen above and in front of them…was Doctor Wily!

The evil doctor's appearance hasn't changed significantly over the past twenty years it seems, but surprisingly, he seemed to be younger and "fresher" than his pre-war days. The only way you could tell that he's older is in the refinement in his standing posture and facial features. With his closed eyes, and expressionless face, he actually looked calm and serene to Rock, and that was mind-boggling. Wily seemed…nice…Rock's logic circuits started heating up over the apparent gap in logic here.

Slowly, Wily opened up his eyes and looked at the camera. The eyes were not the eyes of maliciousness and evil that Rock had encountered years before time and time again. They looked…different…but they were still brimming with the ambition and conviction he had in the past.

"ahem Is the camera on?" Wily asked the off-screen camera operator slowly and clearly in a non-hoarse voice. "Good. ahem" he turned to face the camera again. "Greetings to the people and robots of Earth and of the space colonies. If you don't know me, I am Doctor Albert Wily, roboticist extraordinaire; you probably know me by my exploits and actions during the Wily Wars starting from the year 20XX."

"Some of you would probably be shocked to see me on international television. There were many rumours of my death but none of them were true. In fact, I was mainly in hiding for the past two decades." He cleared his throat.

"Before I continue, I'll answer a couple of questions most of you would probably have right now. First, I'm not dead, and I'm not a robotic android copy of myself carrying on my evil wishes of world domination. Second, my official age is 96 for those who are wondering."

"Now, you are all probably asking yourselves why I disappeared two decades ago, or what I was up to in the last twenty years or even why I decided to appear now. All will be answered soon enough."

"Now…Two decades ago, in the year 20XX, there was the fiasco with King and my attack with a whole bunch of Robot Masters. After my consecutive defeats, I decided to have a nice long "me time" to think over my past actions and my future plans."

"You see…" he started to pace to the right of the screen. Of course, the camera followed too. "Back in the year 200X, I decided to take over the world because it was apparent to me that the robots of the world were treated as tools for human benefit and that the situation wouldn't change for many, many years. But after my initial defeat at the hands of Rockman, I was bent on revenge. I sent wave after wave of Robot Masters to defeat Rockman but that all proved to be fruitful. I realized that I probably forgot my purpose and reasons of world domination which explained why I failed repeatedly, but that's old news." Wily paused to remember what the next part of the speech was.

"Ah yes…Ever since that fateful day when my latest castle of doom sank to the ocean floor, I became a changed man. Yes…I changed. I realized that my actions have only brought misery and suffering to a lost cause that was achievable in other, less stressing ways. Two decades later, we have ultimate peace and cordiality between robots and humans…what more could I ask for?" Wily stopped in front of a table covered with a large, dust-covered red cloth. It was covering something big because something was so tall that it's above the camera's "ceiling." Everybody looked at each other quizzically wondering what could be under the cloth. A cough from Wily made them instantly turn their heads back.

"So, what is my plan now that I've changed you ask? Well…Over a quarter of a century ago, the first International Robotics Competition was hosted by the mysterious Mr. X. Me. I'm sure some of you older people would remember it. The world's leading roboticists entered 8 robots into the competition and I stole those robots in an attempt to take over the world again. Well…I would like to express my greatest apologies for the entire Wily Wars and express my joy of the peace between robot and mankind by hosting the world's first…!" he yanked the cloth and threw it into the air and releasing lots of dust. "The cough hack cough cough The world's AGH! cough cough cough hack cough cough cough Turn on the fans! The FANS! cough cough cough cough" Wily was waving his hands frantically before he disappeared in the dust. Rock smiled to himself because it reminded him of the times when Wily gave up and bowed down to him in defeat. _Looks like he gave up to the dust._ He snickered at the thought.

When the dust cleared…there was a small scaled model of what seems to be a set of stadiums and in the middle, a GIGANTIC tower in the middle which, as the camera slowly inched up to reveal, the largest colosseum Rockman has ever seen. _The colosseum in Rome in that boot-shaped country on the other side of the ocean has nothing on the one Wily just showed…_Rockman thought. "ahem As I was saying…" Wily glared to somebody outside the screen before looking back at the camera. "I present to you…the world's first re-incarnation of the International Robotics Competition!"

Rock's jaw and arms dropped because his logic processors were suddenly overloaded with the concept that Wily would try to restart the International Robotics Competition which he ruined in the first place. When Rock finally regained control of his body, he looked around and saw that the others experienced similar problems. Elecman forgot that he was arc welding and therefore melted whatever was in his hand, Gutsman was holding something Fireman burned a hole through...Gutsman might need some thermal damage repairs on his hands later on. Iceman didn't notice that he was spilling liquid nitrogen onto the floor, Bombman dropped a concrete block on Cutman and even Dr. Light had dropped his fork that had the cinnamon waffle he was about to eat (He never drops eating utensils).

Wily coughed so that everybody would wake up from their shock. Of course, he waited as the others scrambled in panic; apparently, he expected this to happen everywhere. A couple of minutes later, he started walking again.

"As everybody can already see, I am very serious about restarting the International Robotics Competition. It is only one of the things that I can do to repay the world for what I had done in the past. After this first competition, I am going to relinquish the responsibility of organizing future competitions to a committee dedicated to the cause of creating a utopia for humans and robots." Wily and the camera entered a gigantic glass elevator.

"As for the contestants and rules, those details will be released later, but I will tell you this. Anybody who believes that they can enter a robot capable of enduring many harsh trials that will test the limits of robotic engineering to the utmost extreme, are allowed to enter."

And with a large "CLUNK!" the elevator suddenly shot out into open air above what seems to be the actual island shown in the model several minutes ago. The camera zoomed in a bit and moved to the walls of the elevator to do a scrolling 360 degree view of the entire island. The view was breathtaking. Rock had thought that Wily was only capable of destruction but it seems that he was wrong. Dr. Light seemed to be thinking the same thing because he was muttering words like "Impossible", "Ridiculous", and "Bakana" (whatever that one meant).

"Marvelous, isn't it?" Wily resumed. "I had put a lot of work into this project and I intend to see it through," he looked off to the side and sighed deeply with a smile; he looked sad though. "Oh, for those with the new holographic entertainment systems, you can bring up a scaled model of the entire island with RGB color."

Rock and gang turned towards Dr. Light and the doctor, in turn, fumbled in his pockets for the remote. When he clicked the "On" button, a three dimensional wire frame appeared and the colors progressively started to take form. Dr. Light aimed the remote to the middle of the floor to move the projection there. The model was just as magnificent looking as the view on the television. Roll's eyes sparkled a lot and Rock wondered if something was wrong with her optical sensors. The island's buildings were covered in construction frames, but despite that, they seemed to blend in perfectly with the island's vegetation. The tower in the center was the most intriguing structure because not only was its base a smoking volcano, but according to the dimensional scale, it was many, many kilometers tall! It had landing strips, several elevators in the central spine, a domed structure on a "branch", and the colosseum at the top…The doctor seemed to have been serious about the tournament. But something didn't seem right but Rock wasn't able to figure out what it was…Maybe later.

"The tournament will officially start in one month. For anybody who's even remotely interested in entering, log onto http/ THREE WEEKS from now. Nobody can access the website at all at this moment until three weeks from now. When there is one week left, I shall start accepting entries and other mail, but not now."

"Oh, one more thing before I end this broadcast." His smiling face became grim and serious; he sure got a lot of wrinkles over the past couple of decades, Rock couldn't believe that Wily was able to hide them until now. "I would like to advise the military from trying to scan and search for the island because it is impossible for you and that money could be used to support my colleagues' research in robotics. I'll see everybody in three weeks! And remember, this is only the beginning of great things to come!" Wily winked at the camera and with that, he disappeared from the massive television screen.

Everybody stood there in silence and turned towards Doctor Light. After a couple of minutes of silence, Doctor Light responded: "Don't even think about it," he said and gave one of those looks that Rock couldn't describe with his vocabulary, but it gave him the feeling that the doctor isn't going to change his mind anytime soon.

"What a buzz killer…" Elecman said. The robots all nodded.

_To be continued… _

Author's Note: No, the URL does not exist. Don't bother going.

Author's Note2: No, it's not a stupid "ZOMG EIGHT NEW ROBOT MASTERS" plot.

Author's Note3: Yes Doctor Light is old, but hey, this is the year 20XX where people live longer. P

Author's Note4: Crossovers will appear later on, so it's not a mislabel.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Cataclysm **

**Chapter 02: The Controversy **

**By ElecmanEXE **

"No, none of you are going, and that's final," Dr. Light said sternly.

"But Dr. Light! What if Dr. Wily is up to no good?" Rockman pleaded.

"All the more reason to not go," the doctor replied. "Look, it has been a peaceful twenty years since Wily's last appearance and I'm busy enough with my robotics research and work on network theory. The last thing I need on top of that is you guys falling for one of Wily's schemes and getting hurt."

"What if we go knowing that it's a trap?" Fireman asked from the corner. He was leaning against a table in one of those 'deep thinker' type poses.

"Showoff." Gutsman muttered.

"What do you mean, Fireman?" the doctor asked.

"Why don't we all enter the competition? If we go preparing for a trap, we could be ready to foil whatever plans Dr. Wily has. If Wily truly turned over a new leaf, then we would enjoy the competition. And besides…who else is there to stop Dr. Wily other than Rockman?"

The room was quiet for several minutes as Dr. Light thought it out. Suddenly, a beeping sound filled the room.

"Dr. Light," Roll said. "You have received a summons to attend an emergency joint meeting by the International Robotics Committee and the International Cyberworld Council at the Electopian SciLabs tomorrow at noon."

"An emergency meeting? Tomorrow? Hmm…Probably to talk about Wily…Roll. Inform them that I will be there by tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Doctor." Roll started typing at a computer.

"And all of you are coming with me tomorrow, so charge your backup power supplies and do all the other preparations for travel. We're leaving in six hours. And we're resuming this discussion when we return. Dismissed."

"Yes, Doctor," the robots replied and they left the room.

Doctor Light sighed and started to pack up some papers and a change of lab coats.

_Meanwhile… _

"Doctor, we've managed to recover the robots that had failed their missions in the past."

"Good, good…hehehe…Are they repairable?"

"Yes, doctor. And the good news is that they can be repaired and upgraded in three weeks' time."

"Excellent…hehehehehehehehe…..Soon, all will go according to plan…How is the situation on Earth?"

"The IRC and the ICC have called an emergency meeting in the Electopian SciLabs."

"Any famous names attending?"

"There's Dr. Cossack, his daughter Dr. Kalinka Cossack, Dr. Cain, Dr. Doppler, Dr. Light, his son Dr. Yuuichirou Hikari, Dr. Richardson…"

The mysterious figure waved his hand. "That'll do. Looks like Light finally got himself a family. Heh…Regal…"

"Doctor?"

"What? What do you want?"

"Umm…your orders?"

"Make sure construction is on schedule and check for any anomalies in the important machines. We don't want them to break ahead of time…"

"Understood." The mysterious servant bowed and disappeared into the darkness.

"Those fools believe their peace with robots is ideal, but the suffering of the robots is what they don't feel."

_Back at the lab…_

"We're all set to go Doctor Light!" Rock called from the lobby of the laboratory.

"You guys go on ahead through the teleporter. I'll be there by tomorrow morning in Electopia."

"Are you okay going alone Doctor?" Roll asked worriedly.

"I'm fine Roll. Thanks for the concern. I appreciate it." Dr. Light smiled faintly.

The robots all piled into the teleporter.

"Fireman! Your hair is burning my face!"

"Stop pushing, Bombman! Don't look up my skirt Iceman! Ah! Gutsman! You stepped on my foot! Eeee! Doctor Light! Elecman shocked me on purpose again!"

"Now now…Everybody, settle down and give each other some space and leave poor Roll alone. I'll see you all tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye Doctor Light!" the robots replied. And with a flick of a switch and a bright flash of light, the robots all disappeared."

"It's just like having a big family of kids…I feel like I'm 60 again…" he sighed and went out to the taxi waiting out in front of the lab.

_One jet ride later, at the Electopian SciLabs' conference auditorium…_

"…and because of the potential threats that Dr. Wily and his robotics competition might bring, which I have listed, I propose a boycott to the entire tournament and a ban to all future competitions in general." The speaker left the podium as faint applause is heard in parts of the auditorium.

Rock looked around the vast auditorium from his spot in center stage. Doctor Light remarked to him that this was the first time in 48 years since he's seen every single member of each group come to an assembly. He then said something about a "hell freezing over." Rock had asked what that meant, but Dr. Light said that he'll tell him about it later.

He looked over to his siblings and restrained a giggle as everyone tried to restrain themselves from taking off their ceremonial armor or in Fireman's case, burning it. Roll squirmed in her seat as she kept on spotting unclean spots on the carpet, floor, ceiling, and even a scientist's beard. She almost vacuumed poor Dr. Cossack's beard off. Of course, she was forgiven, but Rock doesn't think Dr. Cossack will try to be anywhere near Roll anymore. He suppressed a smile.

"…and now, I will present the head researcher of the International Robotics Committee, Dr. Thomas Light!"

"It's time, Rock." Dr. Light whispered to Rock before getting up onto the podium. Rock soon followed and for some reason, the scientists started to whisper things to each other quietly when they saw him stand beside Dr. Light. 

"Greetings, fellow roboticists, network researchers, engineers, and robots. On a regular day, I would be addressing the usual topics of the X and Alpha projects, but today, I will be addressing a more important issue that has come before us.

"As all you already know, after twenty years of silence, Dr. Wily made a sudden broadcast on international television. Yes, I'm sure a lot of you would want to discuss the hazards of the lack of strength of network security, but this is Dr. Wily we're talking about. I'm sure our combined efforts at protection and security can be compromised by a genius mind like Wily's if given the time and effort.

"But that is not what I am here to talk about today. Today, I am going to talk about Wily's broadcast itself.

"It has been twenty years since Dr. Wily's last appearance on Earth and almost 25 years since his scheme to take over the world by sabotaging a robotics competition that he hosted himself. Now, in the year 20XX, he returned to the robotics scene by announcing a new robotics tournament which he claims to be the start of a long-standing tradition of robotics tournaments.

"The immediate question that one would ask is 'Why would Wily want to host another tournament?' but a more important question to be answered is: 'Should we enter the tournament at all?'" Everybody started nodding in unison.

"Dr. Roberts had given us great reasons not to participate in Wily's personal tournament. But I ask you this…why not?" The scientists started buzzing about Dr. Light's sudden question. "There are two possibilities that can come from this entire scenario.

"The first…Dr. Wily hatches another more devastating plot to take over the world that could involve the participants again. Or, all goes well and the tournament goes well without a hitch."

"What if the former is to happen?" a man asked.

"I am getting to that." Dr. Light replied.

"If, given that Dr. Wily has an evil scheme in mind, something should happen that would endanger the safety of the Earth, then we will need to stop him ahead of time or at least be prepared. Yes, we could be walking into a trap, BUT, there's an old saying that says 'If you want to catch a tiger, you'll have to enter its cave.' So, my proposal is to enter Wily's _cave_ ourselves with our best robots expecting either a trap, or the beginnings of a fine tradition.

"I am not asking all of you to participate in this tournament. Just the ones who wish to join. I, myself, shall be entering Rock into the compet-"

"What about us! We can do it! We have guts!"

"Yeah. What's the deal of dragging us out here to keep us out of the tournament?"

"Wily is going to enter his own Robot Masters, right? I want to burn some robot parts and show them who's boss! This is unfair!"

The siblings started squabbling on stage about the injustice until Roll opened her mouth.

"QUUUUIIIIEEEEETTT!" Roll's shrilling yell echoed loudly throughout the auditorium without the aid of the microphone or the audio system. "If you boys start squabbling and fighting over something small and insignificant, I am personally going to follow you guys to Wily's fortress to make sure you're all functioning properly 24/7! Now be quiet and sit down or else you'll get dirt stuck between your ceremonial armor which took me HOURS to clean! Understand!"

"Yes ma'am." The six Robot Masters sat down quietly, defeated. Rock noticed that Roll scared nearly everyone in the room, and some were holding their hands in front of their mouths. Their skin color is as red as Roll's dress, and Rock wondered why they seem to be angry.

"ahem. I will be entering all of my robots, except Roll, into the competition for reasons that I have stated above. If anybody else is willing to join me and my robots in Wily's First International Robotics Competition, I suggest that you all start tuning up your best robots. You have less than three weeks. Thank you." Dr. Light stepped down as the audience gave a standing ovation.

Backstage, Dr. Light huddled the robots together. "The next time you guys start causing trouble, I will remove you from the competition. Now, go on home and start training. I will be home by dinner."

"Yes, doctor." They replied.

"Pops!" A man with brown hair and glasses wearing a lab coat ran down the hallway to Dr. Light.

"Yuuichirou! How good to see you! How goes the Navi project you're working on, my son?"

"Not much progress, but I'm sure that when the Alpha project becomes successful that we'll get the Navi project online as soon as possible." Yuu looked at the robots. "Hello, Rock, Roll, Fireman, Iceman, Elecman, Gutsman, Bombman, and Cutman. Glad to see that you're all still in working condition."

"Hello, Dr. Hikari!"

"Now, now, you can drop the formalities. Just call me Yuu."

"Okay, Yuu!"

"Haha…" Yuuichirou laughed. "They're like children."

"Indeed…How is your friend, Meijin? Is he still getting people to drop formalities? Haha…"

"Yes. And it's become very automatic with him now. And the scary thing is, he seems to know when and where you say 'Meijin-san' and that's freaking out of some of the people."

"SAN WA IRANAI!"

Everybody laughed.

"Well, I have to go return to Megapolis to get ready for the tournament. Come drop by when you're not busy. And bring your girlfriend too. How is Haruka?"

"She's fine. She's all worked up over our marriage plans. I'll tell you said hi."

"Thanks, son. Well, I'm off!"

"Bye Pops!" and with that, the two parted ways.

Outside, Rock asked Dr. Light something that was bothering him.

"Umm…Dr. Light?"

"Yes, Rock? What is it?"

"What are the X and Alpha projects about?"

"Well…The Alpha project is all about making the Internet a better place. And well…I'll tell you about the X project later."

"How do you go to the Internet?"

"Ahh, you cannot go to the Internet yourself, but you can connect to it. You might not understand it now, but you will soon enough."

"Oh, okay. Thank you Dr. Light!"

"Don't mention it. Oh look, everybody's already in the teleporter. Hurry. You all would want to get into the training room, right?"

"Yup! I'll see you at home, Dr. Light!" Rock ran off to his siblings who were waiting impatiently for him.

_Meanwhile…_

"Doctor…He is here." The mysterious servant said.

"Good, send him in."

"Greetings. We meet again, Doctor." A mysterious figure entered the room. It was dark save the lighting from the computer screens detailing events happening on Earth.

"Ahh yes…Welcome, welcome. Sit, sit, and please, drop the formalities. We are equals on this place."

"Equals indeed…Why have you brought me here?"

"You see…I have decided to turn over a new leaf and host an international robotics competition as proof of my honesty, and I was wondering if you would like to be an honored guest, a participant, in my tournament." The Doctor explained.

"I don't see why I have to participate in a tournament against your inferior robots."

"Oh, but you see…my robots are very much improved in many ways. But putting that aside, I would like to mention that a certain Rockman is going to be participating too."

The mysterious guest sat silently for a couple of minutes. It was so quiet that one could hear the buzz of the many monitors. "Rockman…Rockman…You have my undivided attention."

The doctor laughed manically as he pressed a button and revealed another computer screen that displayed many complex things, and then started to explain the contents.

_Back at the lab…_

Dr. Light entered his workshop after a rowdy and loud dinner. The robots were all so excited about the tournament that they couldn't have waited to get into the simulation chamber. He could still hear them from his room despite the sound-proofing from the simulation room. Doctor Light sighed and stared out the window for some time. A minute, ten minutes, maybe an hour or two. With another sigh, he turned around and pressed some buttons on the main computer's keypad. A passage appeared from behind a set of machinery. He entered the dark passageway and went down a couple of flights of stairs. At the bottom, he reached a dark hallway and at the end, there was a faint blue light coming from behind a closed door. Dr. Light walked to the door, typed in a long password on the keypad, held his hand up to a scanner, got his retinas scanned, and spoke into the microphone "Voice code, Hikari."

"Identity confirmed. Welcome Doctor." And with that, the door slowly opened.

Inside the room, there was a lot of advanced machinery not seen in the current world. As he walked by the machines, he checked to see if everything was in order. At the end of the maze of machinery, there was a pod; it was the source of the blue light from earlier. The pod opened as Dr. Light approached and inside…there was a blue humanoid robot floating in a watery fluid, wires and electrical plugs inserted everywhere; it was sleeping. Dr. Light flicked a couple of switches.

"X, I gave you the ability to choose your own path in life, and I hoped the world would allow you to choose a peaceful one….But…now it seems that you are destined to fight…"

_To be continued... _

Author's Note: Dun dun dun….

Author's Note2: I appreciate the reviews/feedback.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Cataclysm **

**Chapter 03: The Preparations **

**By ElecmanEXE **

**Dr. Thomas Light's Log, Date: March 04, 20XX Weather: Sunny **

It has been a week since Albert's announcement for a tournament. A lot of people are busy speculating what Albert is up to, but I have hope. We're both close to reaching our hundredth year of life, and I truly doubt Albert would even want to take over the world again.

Work on the X and Alpha projects have been moving along smoothly. So far, X's compatibility testing is now 20 years in, and it seems as if he never needed the testing in the first place. The data analysis hardware is exceeding expectations so far and I think that a field test will be possible soon. It's rather unfortunate that I won't live that long to see the day that X emerges from his pod.

On the other hand, speaking of field tests, I decided to use some of X's parts to use on Rockman in the tournament. If successful, I can die in peace knowing that X will live a happy and peaceful life. I still haven't told Rock who or what X is, and I really should. He's been asking me more frequently about it and I don't think I could stall telling him…I think I'll tell him maybe when he emerges from the upgrade pod later this evening.

On the topic of secret projects, the Alpha project is going by relatively smoothly. I used some of the algorithms developed in the X project in Alpha and I have to say that Alpha's ability to learn and adapt to its environment far exceeded my expectations. Soon, we'll be able to unveil the new cyberworld to the world. Unfortunately, progress has been slowed as of late because I had to make upgrades and modifications to the robots. Roll seems pretty intent on joining even though she wasn't made for combat. That worries me a bit because I thought she was only joking at the IRC & ICC conference. If it's a bluff, she sure has all of us convinced. Rock, and the others are training hard because Roll just won't leave them alone. I feel as if I'm a father all over again…

Ahh oops…There goes another explosion in the combat simulation room. Looks like I'll end this here.

**Fireman's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX Weather: Smoking**

-Went to Battle Simulation Room after daily morning system analysis  
- Roll wanted me to clean myself. She suggested cleaning solvents  
- I refused because the only liquid allowed in my system is fuel  
- Roll gave me "The Look"  
- Observation: Roll's inner strength (fire) is stronger than all  
- I don't feel as if I deserve to be a robot of fire.  
- I reluctantly flushed the solvents through my systems  
- Roll was content  
- I re-ignited my internal combustion engine and Roll became angry  
- Roll and I fought in the simulation room  
- Residual solvents were flammable and caused an explosion  
- Roll was REALLY not happy. My condition is insignificant. Immediate events are not logged  
- Regained consciousness three hours later after the explosion  
- Found a spark plug in my fuel dispensing container during afternoon consumption. Outlook not good.

Improvement: 1 percent

**Iceman's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX Weather: Dark and Cloudy **

- Decided to train and test my body's endurance by spending a day in Central Electopia. There was a heat wave there, so it was a perfect place to start training. With the data I could collect, I would be able to figure out how to best insulate my body from extreme temperatures.  
- I was suddenly attacked by a group of young females. Judging by their short skirts, high-pitched voices, and untold amounts of energy, I guessed that they were middle school students.  
- I was unable to escape because that would require my attacking them and my programming forbade that.  
- I sustained heavy damage because they picked me up; grabbed me; stuck sharp objects into every limb, joint, and connection ports; dropped me onto the ground; threw me around; managed to constrain my body with their "hugs"; pushing and pulling me in order to get some more time with me.  
- I returned immediately after I escaped to find the Battle Simulation Room turned into a smoldering pile of rubble.  
- I inquired Roll, who was covered in soot (uncharacteristic of her) about the room and was met with such fury that I haven't witnessed since Fireman coated Roll's ceiling with soot unintentionally.  
- Regained consciousness two hours later beside Fireman in Dr. Light's workshop. I didn't sustain a lot of damage other than what I had already received, but Fireman was completely damaged.  
- Fireman's limbs were hanging by the arm cannons, his arm cannons look like as if they've been blown inside-out (probably a fuel supply problem), and there were massive dents of similar sizes all over the body. The Simulator must have been set at level 12 with Fireman losing his concentration.  
- Found a spark plug in my fuel dispensing container during my afternoon fuel consumption. Cause is indeterminate.

Improvement: 0.5 percent

**Gutsman's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX, Weather: Sunny  
**

- I wanted to train and become strong! Stronger than Bombman, Rockman, and Roll! I got an old scroll (two days ago) from a large green turtle wearing a purple bandana about hand-to-hand combat and it was very insightful in combat techniques. I only had to move some broken robots and robot parts to his place in the sewers where three other big turtles were training; they had colored bandana masks too! Gutsman wanted to train with them, but the turtles told me to come back after I read the scroll. I agreed and told them I'll be back and returned home.  
- Before I left, I told them that a section of the ceiling is improperly supported because safety comes first, even training. The turtle with the purple bandana seemed to be surprised at my warning and thanked me. Dr. Light always said doing good deeds is good.  
- I made a note to get an ancient Chinese/Japanese translator bot to help me read the rest of the scroll. The diagrams are not enough.  
- I went to the Fight Room to train! But…  
- Bombman asked me to move crates of his bombs to the Fight Room! I helped carry everything and Bombman said I was becoming stronger! I was happy.  
- Bombman said that he needed the Fight Room for renovations and asked me to train later. I agreed. I noticed that he carried power tools of all kind. The nature of the tools seemed to involve renovation as Bombman said, but it seemed as if he was going to rebuild the entire Fight Room. There weren't any structural support meshes which contribute to the stability and structural integrity of a room of the Fight Room's nature and if he did not get any, training of intensity level 4 or above would result in the disintegration of the supporting beams within the walls of the Fight Room.  
- I pointed out this obvious dilemma to Bombman and volunteered to bring some support meshes to which he agreed.  
- It took me approximately 3 hours and twenty-two minutes to go into storage and retrieve the support meshes. I could have yanked them out, but then the towering piles of unused materials would have come crashing down due to a loss of uniform structural balance. I am glad I am programmed with complete and thorough knowledge of architectural and construction engineering.  
- When I obtained the structural meshes, an explosion rocked the building and caused the towers to sway. I quickly constructed a self-supporting shelving system with wooden, cardboard, string, and a fishing hook. If things crashed, Roll would blame me and that is not a good thing.  
- When I arrived at the Fight Room, it was gone and destroyed. Bombman must have finished the renovations without the structural meshes. Not good.  
- Bombman was hiding behind a corridor and yanked me out of the hall. Looks like he is still stronger than me.  
- He told me to never tell Roll anything I knew about the Fight Room today, or tell anybody else for that matter. I thought that this was strange for Dr. Light would want to know and said so. Bombman was about to explain when Roll yelled loudly. We looked around the corner and saw her yelling at Iceman. Bombman said "That's why." I promised to not tell anyone if Bombman agreed not to too. I always keep my word.  
- We heard a loud scream and a THWACK and saw Iceman falling to the ground. Bombman and I made sure to get away quickly.  
- I made sure to clean myself before afternoon fuel consumption time because Roll was in a bad mood.  
- Fireman and Iceman both recovered by afternoon fuel consumption time. I gave Roll a bunch of dandelions I got from the backyard because I remember Elecman saying that fembots like flowers and other boring things like boy bands and blonde haired humans. Roll smiled and gave me a hug. I feel happy.  
- I realize that I didn't get to train today. I wanted to try level 12 today…Now I'm sad.  
- I went to clean up the rubble because rubble left unchecked becomes a harder task to clean up. When I was half-done, Rock came by and helped me clean the rubble. He even helped me rebuild the room too. Rock is such a great older brother. Dr. Light always said "Kindness is the strongest strength." Maybe that is why Rock is the strongest! He is the kindest of us all!  
- I had also re-done and improved Bombman's renovation plans, so that brings my Good Deeds total for the day to three. Three is better than one. I wasn't as sad now. I'm happy.

Improvement: 50 percent

**Cutman's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX Weather: Sunny to Cloudy to Smoke **

- After bootup, I went outside to improve my aiming algorithms.  
- After some practice, I realized that I could improve my aiming algorithms by accounting for atmospheric changes and light intensity.  
- After the needed modifications, I obtained the ability to throw two Rolling Cutters at once. Not only that, when I throw only one at a time, I can choose to make the cutter a boomerang, a straightforward blade, or a boomerang with enough momentum to make two revolutions at a time. I must ask Dr. Light to give me the ability to carry, throw, or shoot an inventory of Rolling Cutters like Metalman's Metal Blades. I'm so jealous of him…Well, except for the fact that his weapons are his own weakness. Hah! I laughed when I heard that from Rock.  
- I decided to head to the Battle Simulation Room to test out my new abilities. Even Rock would be surprised at how much I've improved.  
- A great explosion obliterated the Battle Simulation Room. Apparently, Fireman seemed to be the cause. Roll was furiously beating his body with what seems to be a support beam. I naturally stayed away and went to Dr. Light. I'm rather jealous of Fireman being able to practice more than the rest of us.  
- Gutsman presented Roll with dandelions and Roll's mood improved so drastically that she hugged him. Upon further inspection, Gutsman was practically the only clean robot in the room, which surprised me. I never expected Gutsman to be…tactful. Well…Looks like the old human adage "You learn something new everyday" is true.

Improvement: 70 percent

**Bombman's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX Weather: Unknown **

- I decided to do some research on fighting by looking up texts on past human wars regarding explosives. Searches came up with missiles, rockets, and land mines.  
- I went to the Battle Simulation Room early in the morning to make some changes to the room so that I can try out new battle tactics regarding land mines and traps.  
- I asked Gutsman to help me carry some of my equipment. It was tiring work. Afterwards, Gutsman mentioned something about structures, meshes, danger, and level forty. I told him to do whatever so that he'd leave me to work. I was only going to practice at level ten anyways, which didn't matter much. Besides, only Rock trains about level fifteen.  
- After renovations were complete, I cleaned up and went to the control room to make changes to the simulation calibrations for my practices.  
- Before I was able to finish, Fireman and Roll started up the simulator at level six battle conditions. The bombs were all triggered and one step was all that needed to set off a chain reaction.  
- After the explosion, I went over to check the damages and Roll was furiously beating Fireman's unconscious body. The damage must have been really bad.  
- I spotted Gutsman headed towards Roll and pulled him out of sight and made sure that he will not say a word about the matter. He was voicing his complaints when Roll "spazzed" (to quote Elecman) at Iceman and knocked him out, after which he agreed to stay mum.  
- Gutsman gave Roll some poorly uprooted dandelions at afternoon consumption time and cheered her up. He was clean too which explained her hug to him. That was rather surprising. Most noticed the hug except for Fireman and Iceman.

Improvement: 0 percent

**Roll's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX, Weather: Sunny with a 24.33 chance of light showers followed by a cloudy overcast. **

- Immediately after coming online, I instructed the cleaning bots, to clean the building like usual. I asked nicely for them to make it extra clean today. The bots are so nice. They nodded and went to work very quickly and cheerfully. They're so very thoughtful! If they were sad, I'd be upset too.  
- I came to the conclusion that if Fireman wants to see an increase in his efficiency of fuel consumption to power, he was going to have to clean his burners.  
- I confronted Fireman and asked him nicely to clean his burners. Being the obnoxious brat of a younger brother that he is, he starts taunting me by turning his flamethrowers on and off going "Oops. It's dirty. Oops. It's dirtier! Le gasp!"  
- After he finally decided to clean his torches, he starts teasing me again.  
- I lost control of my emotions module and activated the Battle Simulation Room to level six battle conditions.  
- I fought with Fireman but only after a couple of minutes, Fireman unleashes a large flamethrower that literally blew up the room.  
- When I regained operability, the room was nothing but rubble and my dress was ruined, my hair torched, and my body was covered in soot and muck! It was all Fireman's fault so I gave him what he deserved: a thorough beating with a nearby metal rod. He was still conscious when I got up, but not when I was done with him.  
- I was outside the room (or what remained of it) when Iceman decided to come over and ask me what happened. I was just ANGRY! Then I had the shocking realization that my dress was not ruined and crusted with soot! It WAS soot! I was naked covered in a layer of soot and Iceman was looking at it all! The nerve! Of course, I gave him what he deserved too!  
- At afternoon fuel consumption time, I dropped a spark plug in Fireman and Iceman's container each. Unfortunately, they spotted it and pulled it out before they swallowed it. Grrr…  
- But Gutsman was such a gentleman! He got himself cleaned up this afternoon and gave me a bunch of dandelions from the backyard to cheer me up! I was so moved! That cheered me up for the rest of my day.

Improvement: 2 percent

**Elecman's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX, Weather: Unknown **

- "The pen is mightier than the sword." This old human adage explains that literacy (or intelligence) can outwit brute strength. The humans are really foolish to not use this wisdom.- While reading hand-to-hand combat strategy books, I noted that the "element" of surprise was of utmost importance in a fight. I started devoting a portion of my processing power to coming up with new battle techniques other than shooting lightning bolts.  
- I logged onto the recently made-available Internet to search for combat tips and tricks.  
- A security camera window showed me that Bombman and Gutsman were moving equipment into the Battle Simulation Room. Looked like power tools and all sorts of bombs. I decided to have fun today.  
- After Gutsman left, and Bombman finished his work and left, I headed over to the Battle Simulation Room. Unfortunately, Fireman and Roll were already there. Fireman was teasing Roll about cleaning his exhaust ports and but surprisingly gave in easily. Then Fireman resumed teasing Roll and she became very angry.  
- After realizing that the teasing was coincidentally similar to the accident a couple of years ago (long story, very bad), I left the observation area and returned to my quarters to watch the ongoing fight. It was quite intense but I gave into this unexplainable urge to pull off a prank.  
- I pushed a button that slowly heated the up the average temperature of the room. Given the current fight, minor increases in temperature would be attributed to the fight.  
- As expected, Bombman had decided to install traps and land mines to increase the level of difficulty of the simulation room. As soon as Fireman shot another flamethrower, the bombs went off in a near spontaneous chain reaction which shook the building.  
- When I arrived at the site of the explosion, Roll was beating up Fireman with a support beam. Soon, Iceman came around and said something to Roll that made her REALLY angry. It was then that I noticed that Roll's dress wasn't burned or covered with soot; it was gone, disintegrated and she was just covered with too much soot. Roll seemed to realize this too and screamed just before she knocked out Iceman with the support beam she just threw away. She then started to brush off the soot off her body.  
- I made sure that my optics sensors were on at maximum sensitivity and that the video input was set at maximum quality  
- After Roll got dressed in the cleansing unit, I cleaned myself up in my quarters and went out to pick some flowers from my secret personal garden. Cheering up Roll is a priority in this building. Poor Dr. Cossack figured it out too late…  
- At afternoon fuel consumption time, Gutsman "beat me to the punch" (humans have weird idioms) by giving Roll a bunch of scrawny dandelions. He had also washed himself. This was strange of Gutsman, which Cutman and Bombman noticed too. Anyways, she cheered up and gave Gutsman a hug. I was angry because I had cleaned myself up too and had flowers for her too.  
- After afternoon fuel consumption time, I threw away the flowers into the garbage chute and returned to my quarters to resume researching combat techniques.

Improvement: 2 percent

**Rock's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX, Weather: Cloudy **

- Dr. Light activated me at around 3:13am and told me to follow him for some upgrades.  
- In Dr. Light's workshop, he told me to enter a pod and said that I would be offline for the next couple of hours.  
- I emerged from the pod with an upgraded blaster that was really powerful and upgraded arm movement. I thanked Dr. Light and headed for the Battle Simulation Room to test out the new blaster and arms.  
- Dr. Light told me that there was an accident in the room and that it is out of commission for the next couple of days. He then told me to not ask about the incident because he doesn't know the details and that the others didn't seem to want to talk about it.  
- I went to see the damage and Gutsman was already cleaning things up. I helped Gutsman clean up and rebuild the room. All that is left is to ask Dr. Light to install the simulation equipment. I think my memory is malfunctioning, but Gutsman had installed some equipment and features into the room that I do not remembering using at all.  
- I decided to run a memory check while I am offline tonight.

Improvement: 100 percent

**Metalman's Activity Log, Date: March 04, 20XX Weather: Unknown **

- I heard that the new triple-bladed table saw came in and I wanted to try it out. I accidentally hurt my finger on the saw.  
- I woke up in the infirmary twelve hours later because apparently, I had killed myself with the table saw. Woe is me.

Improvement: 0 percent

_To be continued… _

Author's Note: ThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerThisisnotafillerTHISISNOTAFILLER! (bricked)

Author's Note2: I appreciate the reviews and feedback. Let's keep them coming!


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